Back from Italy!

We've been back from Italy for several weeks but I have only just got around to downloading my photos! That is partially because we both came back with rotten colds, which may or may not have actually been Covid as they were not the same as normal colds - I did do a test but by the time we got around to getting one from the pharmacy, it was 10 days since I had caught Keith's cold and the results were negative. Anyway, it left me feeling drained although I am glad to say we are both feeling much better now.

I found some photos from July and August on my camera so I am sharing those now, before I get back to reporting on our Spanish trip.

I decided to try shooting butterflies in flight, but you know how it goes - you go outside to do so and where are the butterflies? Well exactly. I shall have to try again next year when there are more butterflies around. This summer was so hot and dry that I didn't see that many butterflies in the latter half of the summer, and it was too hot to go out for walks. A bit of a wasted summer in that respect (although the pool was nice and warm, see above. 😀)

I did get a reasonable shot of a Long Tailed Blue (Lampides boeticus) in flight - interesting because they usually sit with their wings closed. If you open up the collage you can just see its little tails. The other picture is of a more worn specimen which is lacking its tails and eye spots at the base.

October has been a very pleasant month with temps mostly in the low 20Cs and lots of sunshine. Just before we went away we had an enormous amount of rain which was sorely needed - I think it was about 50mm (2 inches) so when we came home it was very green everywhere which was so nice after the dry summer. There are still a few butterflies around, one of which is the Common Blue (Polyommatus icarus) which is below taken on wild oregano, back when it was flowering.

This is a Rough Saddle Bush Cricket (Uromenus rugosicollis) on a garden waste bag. Love its eyes! Also, I've just remembered - I don't have a photo but we found a gecko in the garden - it was on a watering can that I was carrying around at the time! I thought they were only found in the coastal areas so that was a real surprise. Haven't seen one since though there are lots of young Wall Lizards around.

And whether it is the heat or what, I don't know, but I have seen lots of Preying Mantises (Mantis religiosa) this summer. There are probably lots more, but look how well it is camouflaged against the colours of the plant! Often I spot them because they are on a wall, or have just flown out in front of me to land in a plant. If they don't move, they are very hard to notice.

My indoor orchids are doing really well. The Odontoglossom below is one of the fancy ones I bought at the plant fair last year so I was really pleased to see it come back into flower again, although these flowers didn't last very long (about two weeks) and are actually going over in this photo.

This is a Phalaenopsis that came back into bloom for the first time, so I didn't even know what colour it was going to be! These blooms are really huge ones.

My favourite purple Dendrobium flowered its face off before we went to Italy and this time, instead of the usual 5 or 6 flowers on each stem, it had loads of flowers, I think about 11 or 12 on each stem! When we came back it was just going over but has two more flowering stems which have just started flowering!

Three of my other Phalaenopsis are about to flower yet again, having already been flowering for four to five months earlier this year, and my fancy Jewel Orchid (Ludisia discolor) with the stripey leaves (you can just see it in the foreground below) has a bud on it.

I can honestly say that at the moment I have really green fingers where orchids are concerned. 💜 I am being very good about watering and feeding them regularly, and have been repotting some of them, which might help!

But how was Italy, you may be asking? It was really enjoyable and made a nice change from Spain and France. However, the amount of tourists in some places was incredible; I absolutely dread to think what it is like there during the school holidays! It was also very green everywhere which was surprising and the weather, whilst sunny, was very humid which wasn't so nice. As for the Roman sites we visited, they are out of this world. You'll have to wait until I finish blogging about our earlier Spanish travels first though! 😀